The Karnataka government’s move to scrap the four per cent reservation given to Muslims under the 2B category of backward classes is clearly a politically motivated decision, and perhaps a well-timed one. With the Karnataka Legislative Assembly completing its tenure on May 24, and the process of conducting elections already underway, the BJP-led government is looking forward to consolidating its voter base. The scrapping of the Muslim share in a reservation is apparently aimed at achieving a twofold objective — to re-emphasize the party’s Hindutva focus by downplaying Muslims and to soothe the reservation aspirations of electorally significant Panchamasalis, a subsect of Veerashaiva-Lingayats. Notably, the scrapped quota of Muslims is redistributed equally among Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats. The OBCs in Karnataka have been enjoying 32 per cent reservation in education and public employment since the mid-1990s. The quantum of reservation provided to five different categories of the OBC — listed as I, II(A), II(B), III(A) and III(B) — has been hierarchical in nature and depends upon their share in population and relative backwardness. Before the recent scrapping and redistribution of quota, Lingayats enjoyed five per cent reservation in III(A) category while Vokkaligas enjoyed four per cent in III(B) category. After the re-distribution, the share of reservations for Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats has increased by two per cent each. This increase, however, appears abysmal when compared to Panchamsalis’ (a subsect of Veerashaiva-Lingayats) demand of 2A status which is entitled to a 15 per cent quota, and Vokkaligas’ demand of 12 per cent quota. It may also be noted that falling in line with the demands, the Karnataka government has created two new categories of 2C and 2D for Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats. While it is uncertain how much electoral gains can the BJP make on account of this move, one thing is certain — the move will only intensify the demands of further reservation by partially satisfying Vokkaligas and Panchamsalis. The possibility of other communities coming up with their fresh demands can also not be ruled out. This is certainly not the direction in which Indian democracy was supposed to proceed. Far from the Constitutionally envisaged role of promoting social equity, the reservations have ostensibly been normalised as a tool for political appeasement. The lure of petty political gains by political parties can potentially, and irreversibly, damage the Constitutional vision behind reservation. The challenge before the state government was to partially fulfil the demands of Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats without disturbing the overall reservation matrix of the state. This might not have been a tough ask for the saffron party, as it found Muslims as convenient scapegoats whose share of reservation could be curtailed or eliminated from the overall composition! The Muslims are now left to fight for their share in the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota pegged at 10 per cent. This is in contradiction to the suggestion made by the state’s law minister who had argued to curtail the EWS quota by four per cent, as EWS beneficiaries did not constitute 10 per cent of the state’s population. Chief Minister Bommai, who belongs to the Lingayat community, was quick to justify that “there is no provision under the Constitution for the reservation to religious minorities'', terming the state’s intervention as a ‘proactive decision’. This argument appears to contradict the facts on the ground as several other religious communities continue to be listed in the backward classes category. Apart from scrapping and redistributing the Muslims’ share of reservation, the state cabinet also recommended restructuring of internal reservation among the 101 SCs, keeping in consideration the demands of the SC (left) faction. In the process, the cabinet has transgressed the limit for SC reservation set by the AJ Sadashiva Commission report at 15 per cent, taking it to 17 per cent. The restructuring of the reservation matrix by the Karnataka government is disturbing as it reeks of communal bias and facilitates the reservation trend rather than aiming to limit its ambit, positively.